Air pollution is an important contributor to many illnesses in the community including lung disease, heart disease and stroke. New research from the Centre for Safe Air confirms that traffic is Australia’s single most important source of air pollution.

This national assessment of health impacts from traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) found that emissions from vehicles—primarily fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)—contribute to over 1,800 premature deaths annually.

The data visualisation tool below maps traffic-related air pollution and its health impacts across Australia.

How to use the Traffic Health Map

• Use the first dropdown menu to Zoom in to a particular State or Territory.
• Use the second dropdown menu to select the type of Area that you want to view health impacts for including by: State and Territory, Greater Capital City Statistical Area or Statistical Area Level 4 (roughly the same size as a local government area).
• Use the third dropdown menu to select the Metric that you want to view including by: earlier than expected deaths, earlier than expected deaths per 100,000 people, and years of life lost.
• Hover your mouse over the geographic area or list bar to view the range of estimates.

What the table shows

The health impact estimates are summarised in a table. This table lists five health impact estimates, each calculated using a range of previously published effect estimates for traffic pollution. This comparison helps to illustrate how different effect size estimates influence the results and supports a more nuanced interpretation of the mortality burden. The table shows a central estimate along with a 95% confidence interval to reflect uncertainty.  To read the full article reporting this data analysis click here.

Traffic health map

Acknowledgements

This data visualisation tool was developed by Dr. Nicolás Borchers Arriagada, post-doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Safe Air, based at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at the University of Tasmania.